This is certainly good news for anyone working in the field of conversion rate optimization. But it’s also not the whole story.

Forrester Consulting also identified ‘forward-thinking firms’ from the responses of the 163 American, British and French decision-makers surveyed. These insights-driven firms got more out of their CRO programs than their peers, seeing higher increases in key CRO metrics like average visitor value, lifetime customer value, and average order value.

What defines these ‘forward-thinking’ firms? Top-notch organization and process.

Forward-thinking firms:

Have a center of excellence team, which manages and espouses best practices and coordinates programs, and/or

Follow a highly formalized process throughout the ideation, development, execution, and analysis of CRO

Having a highly structured CRO team is probably a goal for most firms, at least in mature markets or industries like eCommerce, where good CRO is a leading concern.

What might not be on the horizon for everyone, but which was also highlighted in the study, was the importance of allocating budget to people and skills, not just tech. This certainly rings true for us at AB Tasty, since we believe people, not technology, will drive the future of our business and of our industry in general.

Finally, for forward-thinking firms as well as everyone else, there are still significant challenges to reaping full ROI from CRO programs. Alongside highlighting the difference in benefits and metrics impacted by various CRO techniques, the study delves into organizational, budgetary and methodological challenges experienced by firms in 5 key industries.

Robin NicholsRobin is a Content Marketing Manager at AB Tasty. Interested in the crossroads of technology and culture, her aim is to produce practical, on point content to help marketers of all stripes improve their conversion rates.